Skating Champ : Classmates Give Tiffany an Ovation

Grinning broadly and sometimes coyly hiding her face in her hands, Providence High School junior Tiffany Chin received an ear-splitting ovation from her Burbank classmates during a school assembly Wednesday to honor her weekend victory in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

The diminutive 17-year-old from Toluca Lake captured her first national singles title Saturday and will go on to the World Championships in Tokyo next month. She already is being called a favorite to win a gold medal in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.

Despite her animated appearance in front of the television cameras and news photographers, Chin, in an interview, appeared pleased with the respite from her whirlwind schedule and frequently apologized for appearing tired. She acknowledged that the sleepless nights and exhausting competition during the past few days temporarily had taken their toll.

Her grueling daily schedule--which starts with practice in a North Hollywood rink at 6:30 a.m., continues with a few hours of class at Providence and concludes with yet another practice at a Costa Mesa rink--is nothing new to the teen-ager, who started her meteoric rise at the age of 8 by mimicking other skaters as they practiced.

It leaves little time for the dating, movies and dances that are the usual trappings of high school life, a factor she says she rarely considers.

“I don’t really think I’ve sacrificed too much,” she said, sipping coffee to prepare herself for the rousing greeting and television lights awaiting her in the school’s gymnasium.

“Sure, I don’t get to do a lot of the things normal kids do, but I get to do the traveling and meeting new people and seeing different cultures that other kids can’t get from school.”

Different Life Style

What about meeting boys?

“I have no emotions, really, about the dating because it’s not something that I really want to do at this point,” she replied.

What about good friends?

“I don’t think in school I can have friends that are really, really close to me and who can really comprehend what I’m doing with my skating and everything,” she said. “I would say my sister serves as a best friend, because she sees more than just the rewards. She sees what I go through.”

Because of that, Chin said, 16-year-old Tammy--who is sophomore class president at Providence--”is her own person and very happy with that. I’m glad all of this hasn’t gotten to my brother and sister.”

Blended With Classmates

Dressed in straight-legged gray pants and a faded, baggy shirt, Chin blended in well with her classmates as television cameras tagged after her to her high school classes Wednesday. At the assembly, the 5-foot-1, 99-pound skater tried to remain animated, although she seemed uncomfortable with being singled out for the attention.

At the gathering, Chin received a complimentary Providence sweatsuit and listened to the plaudits of school administrators before thanking her classmates for “always supporting me and being so cool.”

But when a cameraman asked, “Where to, next?” after the brief assembly, Chin politely replied that it was time for her to go home--alone--and get some rest.